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Paul Crawley, The Daily Telegraph
October 5, 2017 4:07pm
Subscriber only
NEW Canterbury coach Dean Pay wants to keep Michael Lichaa at the club and a deal could be finalised within days.
Brett Morris is also expected to stay at Belmore despite interest from South Sydney.
But as the Bulldogs look to put to bed their salary cap troubles of 2017, it looks like promising young fullback Brad Abbey will be heading to Canberra in what is essentially a player swap with Clay Priest.
While Lichaa was unwanted by Des Hasler, Pay coached him at junior representative level for NSW and knows full well what the 24-year-old can offer under a game plan that best suits his strengths.
It is believed Lichaa has attracted late interest from a couple of rival clubs but wants to stay at the Bulldogs under Pay.
Lichaa turned things around late in the season.
Since joining Canterbury from Cronulla where he was brought to replace Michael Ennis, Lichaa’s career has hardly reached the heights many expected.
In under 20s, he was averaging about 150m a game but in NRL that average dropped dramatically.
In fairness, no hooker has ever had a history of big running metres playing under Hasler.
At Manly Matt Ballin made his name as a tackling machine and even Ennis was criticised for his lack of running during Hasler’s reign.
But that changed when Ennis went to the Sharks and played to a different plan.
REACT: The bombshell that rocked the Kiwis
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Lichaa also changed opinions in his last three games of the season when he started running the football more and reminding everyone of the type of player he was when he was rated one of the most exciting young talents in the game.
Meanwhile, Morris is growing increasingly frustrated with speculation surrounding his future that has dragged on for most of the year.
The 31-year-old took to Twitter this week and denied he was on the move.
Morris tweeted: “I’ve been linked to a lot of clubs recently. I have not met any officials from any clubs and haven’t signed anything elsewhere. #FakeNews”
That was backed up by his manager David Riolo who admitted South Sydney and other clubs had made contact “but we have never had an official off on Brett Morris from another club at any stage”.
“He is getting annoyed (by the constant speculation),” Riolo said.
“Social media people jump on and make comments that things are done (at another club).
“So then Brett gets family and friends and everyone else saying ‘what’s happening?’
“I’ll say it again, Brett Morris is under contract and we haven’t received an official offer from any other club.”
The only thing that could change it is if a rival club like Souths offered Morris a lucrative contact beyond 2018 that worked in the best interests of Morris and the Bulldogs.
Pay wants the roster finalised as soon as possible so he and the players can focus on 2018 without the distractions that caused so much angst this year.
October 5, 2017 4:07pm
Subscriber only
NEW Canterbury coach Dean Pay wants to keep Michael Lichaa at the club and a deal could be finalised within days.
Brett Morris is also expected to stay at Belmore despite interest from South Sydney.
But as the Bulldogs look to put to bed their salary cap troubles of 2017, it looks like promising young fullback Brad Abbey will be heading to Canberra in what is essentially a player swap with Clay Priest.
While Lichaa was unwanted by Des Hasler, Pay coached him at junior representative level for NSW and knows full well what the 24-year-old can offer under a game plan that best suits his strengths.
It is believed Lichaa has attracted late interest from a couple of rival clubs but wants to stay at the Bulldogs under Pay.
Lichaa turned things around late in the season.
Since joining Canterbury from Cronulla where he was brought to replace Michael Ennis, Lichaa’s career has hardly reached the heights many expected.
In under 20s, he was averaging about 150m a game but in NRL that average dropped dramatically.
In fairness, no hooker has ever had a history of big running metres playing under Hasler.
At Manly Matt Ballin made his name as a tackling machine and even Ennis was criticised for his lack of running during Hasler’s reign.
But that changed when Ennis went to the Sharks and played to a different plan.
REACT: The bombshell that rocked the Kiwis
MATE MA’A: Fifita dumps Roos for Tonga
Lichaa also changed opinions in his last three games of the season when he started running the football more and reminding everyone of the type of player he was when he was rated one of the most exciting young talents in the game.
Meanwhile, Morris is growing increasingly frustrated with speculation surrounding his future that has dragged on for most of the year.
The 31-year-old took to Twitter this week and denied he was on the move.
Morris tweeted: “I’ve been linked to a lot of clubs recently. I have not met any officials from any clubs and haven’t signed anything elsewhere. #FakeNews”
That was backed up by his manager David Riolo who admitted South Sydney and other clubs had made contact “but we have never had an official off on Brett Morris from another club at any stage”.
“He is getting annoyed (by the constant speculation),” Riolo said.
“Social media people jump on and make comments that things are done (at another club).
“So then Brett gets family and friends and everyone else saying ‘what’s happening?’
“I’ll say it again, Brett Morris is under contract and we haven’t received an official offer from any other club.”
The only thing that could change it is if a rival club like Souths offered Morris a lucrative contact beyond 2018 that worked in the best interests of Morris and the Bulldogs.
Pay wants the roster finalised as soon as possible so he and the players can focus on 2018 without the distractions that caused so much angst this year.